Improvement in whiffletrees



G. R. EDWARDS.

I Whiifletrees.

N0.148,433, Patented March 10. 1874.

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UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE R. EDWARDS, OF GALENA, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN WHIFFLETREES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,433, dated March10, 1874'; application filed February 7, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE It. EDWARDS, of Galena, in the county of JoDaviess and State of Illinois, have invented a new and ImprovedWhiffletree; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in whichFigure 1 is a top, and Fig. 2 a side, view, both partly broken away.Fig. 3 is a plan view of a circle-plate, which is preferably, but notnecessarily, employed.

The invention relates to that class of whiffletrees in which means areemployed to release therefrom the traces in case of a runaway or otheraccident, so that the horse will at once leave the vehicle, thuspreventing its fracture or the injury of its occupants.

A is a whiflietree, having on each end a socket, with the end-aperturedguard a, and an internally-sliding spring-bolt, B, that plays in and outof the aperture of guard. 0 is a bolt, which is perpendicular to andrigidly connected with each bolt B, and movable back and forth in a slotof socket and whiffletree. is a thumb-piece on the outside of socket,and belonging to the bolt 0.

In hitching up or removing the horse from vehicle, the thumb-pieces areused to unlock the bolts from the traces; but if the horse runs away, orfor other reason it is desirable in a moment to separate the horse fromthe carriage, it is necessary to employ other means for acting on thespring-bolts. For this pur- )osite sides of fulcrum e which is ali ned 11 a therewith, while the stud e of rod G is placed near the vertex ofthe remaining angle. This allows the spring-bolts to be worked easily bythe cord in the hand of driver, and to be easily withdrawn from thetrace-holes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of lever-plate E, springs H H, rods D, and bolts 0,to hold the bolts B yieldingly in the end apertures of the guards to, asand for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with spring-held rods D D and draw-rod G, of atriangular plate-lever, E, having the rods D D pivoted at e c .in thevertexes of two of the angles, one on each side of fulcrum and in linewith it, the drawrod G being pivoted at c in the vertex of the otherangle, as and for the purpose specified.

GEORGE RICE EDWARDS.

Witnesses:

OHAs. BROWN, D. H. DILDINE.

